Pre-April 5 2025 Voluntary NI pension Topups

discountdude1585

Hello everyone and thanks for having me on this site. I wish to share a query with people who registered with the DWP to top up their NI contributions since 2006 before the April 5 2025 deadline. 
I have just received an extensive email from DWP outlining the contributions I have to make. Fortunately I can make these contributions without putting a hole in my finances but am very disappointed to see that the pension increase hardly makes the investment worthwhile. I was led to understand that my pension would double (or nearly) after making the contributions but this doesn't seem to be the case. Is it worth querying the amount with DWP? Is anyone else in the same position? Thanks for your comments.  

molerat

If you post up what you have received someone can sense check it.  A single year contribution should increase the pension by between £5.88 and £6.58 per week depending circumstances apart from the final year top up to the max which could give as little as 1p.  Are you pre or post state retirement ?

Marcon

discountdude1585 said:

Hello everyone and thanks for having me on this site. I wish to share a query with people who registered with the DWP to top up their NI contributions since 2006 before the April 5 2025 deadline. 
I have just received an extensive email from DWP outlining the contributions I have to make. Fortunately I can make these contributions without putting a hole in my finances but am very disappointed to see that the pension increase hardly makes the investment worthwhile. I was led to understand that my pension would double (or nearly) after making the contributions but this doesn't seem to be the case. Is it worth querying the amount with DWP? Is anyone else in the same position? Thanks for your comments.  

Could you be a bit clearer about who or what led you to believe your pension would ', nearly double'?

discountdude1585

@molerat Thanks for your comment. The amounts you state are exactly what the DWP have sent me. I am post retirement, 2 years into it. When I did the forecast (can't do it anymore) back last March the amount I would have to pay was the same but the pension forecast was almost 200 pounds more per month in addition to what I receive at present (approx 400 pounds). I have been researching and it might appear that the DWP are not crediting my repayments as Class 1 contributions, which is why I was wondering if there others out there who are in the same situation. 
@Marcon Word of mouth initially, then a newspaper article. A friend in pretty much the same situation as me is receiving almost 200 pounds extra pm as I told molerat above.    

af1963

To increase by about £200pm , roughly £50 per week, would require adding 8 or 9 years.

They also need to be years that will make a difference. Paying for incomplete years after 2016 will add to your pension as people have said above.  If some of your "missing" years were before 2016, they might not increase your base amount that was calculated as the starting point in 2016.  If that's the case, you wouldn't bother buying those years. 

DRS1

discountdude1585 said:

@molerat Thanks for your comment. The amounts you state are exactly what the DWP have sent me. I am post retirement, 2 years into it. When I did the forecast (can't do it anymore) back last March the amount I would have to pay was the same but the pension forecast was almost 200 pounds more per month in addition to what I receive at present (approx 400 pounds). I have been researching and it might appear that the DWP are not crediting my repayments as Class 1 contributions, which is why I was wondering if there others out there who are in the same situation. 
@Marcon Word of mouth initially, then a newspaper article. A friend in pretty much the same situation as me is receiving almost 200 pounds extra pm as I told molerat above.    

Sorry but what repayments are you talking about?
Do you mean voluntary contributions?
If so they are usually Class 3 contributions.
Some people qualify to make voluntary Class 2 contributions. A better deal than Class 3.
What would be the significance of Class 1 contributions? And can you make them voluntarily?

Marcon

DRS1 said:

discountdude1585 said:

@molerat Thanks for your comment. The amounts you state are exactly what the DWP have sent me. I am post retirement, 2 years into it. When I did the forecast (can't do it anymore) back last March the amount I would have to pay was the same but the pension forecast was almost 200 pounds more per month in addition to what I receive at present (approx 400 pounds). I have been researching and it might appear that the DWP are not crediting my repayments as Class 1 contributions, which is why I was wondering if there others out there who are in the same situation. 
@Marcon Word of mouth initially, then a newspaper article. A friend in pretty much the same situation as me is receiving almost 200 pounds extra pm as I told molerat above.    

Sorry but what repayments are you talking about?
Do you mean voluntary contributions?
If so they are usually Class 3 contributions.
Some people qualify to make voluntary Class 2 contributions. A better deal than Class 3.
What would be the significance of Class 1 contributions? And can you make them voluntarily?

Voluntary top ups - it's in the thread title and clearly just a slip of the keyboard.

OP, you can't make voluntary Class 1 contributions - see https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

discountdude1585

I said Class 1 contributions, I meant Class 2

DRS1

discountdude1585 said:

I said Class 1 contributions, I meant Class 2

Do you qualify to make Class 2 voluntary contributions?

In some cases (being abroad for some time I think) you can ask HMRC(?) for a decision on whether you can pay voluntary Class 2 contributions for any particular gap years.  But maybe you had to do that before the cut off date?

And Class 2 can be tricky - if you weren't abroad you need to have registered as self employed in some way and not everyone has.

molerat

There are many quirks around class 2 contributions whether self employed or living overseas and if you have already reached retirement at the time of applying.

If you want to post up some details someone may be able to see what is going on

Current weekly £££.pp amount.
Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier
Number of full NI years 16-17 and later
Tax year you reached state retirement
Were you in a contracted-out pension scheme, NHS, local government, civil service etc
Years which show not full and prices

And if you are overseas which country do you reside in

xylophone

200 pounds more per month in addition to what I receive at present (approx 400 pounds). 

Do you mean that you receive £400 every four weeks?